Koraput: Police on Tuesday recovered the half-burnt body of a 56-year-old man from a forest near Dangara village in Borigumma police limits here.

Sandeep Sial, a resident of Ambaguda in Jeypore Sadar police limits, worked as a cluster resource co-ordinator.

According to his family members, Sial left home around 9am on Monday on official duty. However, when he did not return home or answered his mobile phone either till late in the evening, they approached the police.

Passers-by spotted his half-burnt body near the Dangra hill, about 4km from Borigumma on the Jeypore-Borigumma NH-26, around 11pm on Monday night and informed the police.

"Sial's mobile phone was ringing and a passer-by noticed it. However, the body couldn't be recovered as it was late. The deceased's phone and motorcycle were recovered from the spot," said Jeypore's additional superintendent of police Prabhat Kumar Pradhan. The reason behind the crime is yet to be ascertained, he said.

"It is suspected that some goons murdered him and set his body on fire. However, the reason behind the killing is under investigation," he said.

"Some of his colleagues said Sial had been depressed for the past few days, and this angle will be investigated too," he said. A forensic team has collected evidence from the spot.